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tv   Headline News  RT  January 12, 2014 5:00pm-5:30pm EST

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militants are controlling major cities in western iraq a show of strength not seen since their battles with u.s. forces a decade ago we look at who these insurgents are and how they became so strong. while in syria al-qaeda linked rebels and other opposition groups are engulfed in bloody infighting the forthcoming peace talks are under threat from the growing divisions among those aiming to topple assad. lost confidence biting austerity is taking its toll on the e.u. leadership with approval ratings hitting a record low for a handful of bloc members. they can dream they can. they can make. each and every kind of. draft. because they don't have to paid
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instead it's taxpayers who will make up for politicians mistakes even in the e.u. as most efficiently run countries such as germany. and playing it safe concerns are growing about how athletes and visitors will be protected at russia's upcoming winter olympics r.t. is in sochi to see what is being done to secure the olympic host city. broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is shawn thomas glad to have you with us now al qaeda affiliated militants have been occupying key areas in iraq's on by province for over two weeks now tanks have been deployed in the.
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provincial capital ramadi and the army hasn't been able to drive insurgents out of nearby flew j'ai either militants haven't had such an open control in major iraqi cities since the u.s. led invasion in two thousand and three parties going to church you can looks at why they are gaining strength. young who knew with whom you're not integrity they run on chaos emboldened by the fighting in syria these al qaeda linked militants overran parts of iraq including the city of the literature we have said earlier that the serious situation will actually go into iraq and this is what we were warning about chaos in neighboring syria deep as the u.s. and its allies threatened the syrian government sending the signal to the rebels to fight on to the detriment of the political outcome islamic schools have now taken over the opposition movement there and have even chased the western backed leader of the free syrian army out of the country to be honest you the relieve it along
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because if you kick it they're going to come out and that's what we did when we invaded iraq you know three and it can bite not just somewhere far in a war zone but here in the u.s. american intelligence and counterterrorism officials now say islamic extremist groups in syria with ties talk to recruiting and training americans who have traveled there to get them to carry out attacks when they return home there are dozens of extremist islamist forces that are operating both inside syria and over the syrian borders walk has been a breeding ground for extremists since the u.s. invasion now residents of other parts of the country are bracing themselves for the iraqi army's assault as it attempts to drive militants out of seized areas the u.s. is supplying hellfire missiles and other weapons to help the iraqi government in the fight the last thing needs as more missiles we heard the u.s. government say they decimated al qaeda is needed but the groups that continue their
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cause expand and what they thrive on best is chaos the worst part chaos to iraq and in syria washington support for armed opposition has benefited extremists in washington i'm going to. our critics. the jihadists entrenched in iraq's western province are from a group called the islamic state of iraq and the levant a u.s. military publication says the organization expanded its influence significantly last year and now boasts over five thousand members now the group was formed back in two thousand and four a year after the u.s. led invasion of iraq began these sunni extremists were initially known as al qaeda in iraq after pledging allegiance to the infamous organization the group's leader said this summer that its goals are to tear down the border between iraq and syria and to destroy both governments many of its members are fighting against president assad in syria and the group says they carried out a suicide blast in lebanon just
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a couple weeks ago anders care guard is a former danish intelligence officer who officer excuse me who served in iraq he says that al qaeda is as strong as ever and that iraqi security forces are overmatched. in my opinion. has never been on the run it might have been downscaling due to pressure but once this precious lifted the organization is back in full force and it uses these. pulses to recreate its bring the fighting ability of these off the isis for instance is very strong but very contained. to the localized battles and one thing. isis and the rebels has is is them and at it they want to continue fighting and the iraqi army really hasn't got a chance to fight these militias. kate them meanwhile in neighboring syria the strengthening of al qaeda linked groups has led
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to growing infighting between once allied rebels fierce clashes between rival opposition factions have killed at least seven hundred people this week according to the syrian observatory for human rights almost one hundred of them are believed to be civilians who were executed by militants from the islamic state of iraq and love and now the outbreak of a war within a war has prompted some western politicians and others who previously rooted it soley for assad's removal to change their stance here are just some of their latest statements former cia director michael hayden said the assad regime is beginning to look like the lesser of all evils and the former u.s. ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi and russia has long been warning of the threat of some opposition groups in syria and what they pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed this realisation of this in the west. now infighting within the ranks of the syrian
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rebels is threatening the russia u.s. a brokered peace conference that is due in less than two weeks time the world's top diplomats are in paris right now to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part but journalists john right white believes that the s. and c. long ago lost its status on the ground. it seemed clear there seems to be very little credibility on the ground it can deliver nothing on the ground over the rebel factions or what associated people. see or most of them and we have the faith to other groups so the u.s. administration is increasingly desperate to try and coupled together some kind of. syrian opposition and they can do business with this city in a position of the city national council you know really only exists say of syria and it only exists. u.s.
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patronage so this is increasingly it seems like a few process that is about to hit the buffers. the past five years could hardly be called the good times for ship it has been seen in public support and confidence in lawmakers diminishing and eventually hitting a record low the data comes from a new regional poll let's take a look at the study suggests the tumbling approval rating is linked directly to the budget cuts and economic woes take spain for instance where public support is drastically low or even ireland which is just successfully exited its bailout program despite that the aftermath of the e.u.'s austerity demands is still driving the numbers down the euro skeptic u.k. used to top the critics list with only around a third actually back in brussels now it's even lower than that dropping below thirty percent now however not only nationals of struggling economies in the bloc
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are voicing their discontent with how the country is being run germany has a reputation for responsible spending but even its politicians are ready to dive into taxpayers' pockets to make up for management mistakes as artie's peter all over reports germans are now increasingly questioning the moves of their government . if you listen to the politicians germany's minutes if you believe those following money trail is a different story. the. cost estimates are used wrong data they start building and eventually they run out of money and then tax plans have to pick up a bill. currently germany has one of the biggest construction sectors in europe but all around the country there's evidence that those in charge of the
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purse strings on the best to make building decisions this building site will eventually become books premie a concert hall however it's already over ten times its original budget it's set to cost close to a billion euro it's not just the grand artistic projects that have cost the big money here in thought off this tourist information booth has already cost taxpayers around one and a half million euro for the ultimate in modern german construction white elephants look no further than right here at the brandenburg airport grossly over budget already four years behind schedule it's currently costing nearly one million euro a day to run and that's without any planes or passengers to those a train tunnel and like that ended up five hundred million over budget that had expected in two thousand and five the german reputation for efficiency. when it
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comes to construction we know is running for election this year parliament believes those in power don't have the required skills to decide on huge projects it's not their money they can dream they can play they can make. each and every kind of. drafts because they don't have to paid labor and charge for four years before eight years as long as the project is not finished and the bill but they are fighting finished with additional costs to increase the national debt so the taxpayer pays twice first for the interest rates of additional debt then extra costs for planning those familiar with construction business know that if you plan to go it will be more expensive than if you plan in advance she was sworn in as chancellor for a third time late last year and promised five billion fixup germany's rule ads germans will have no idea how much that promise they cost them the troll of.
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iran and of the six world powers have announced the date when they will officially begin implementing the nuclear deal reached in november on january twentieth tehran is said to start scaling back its atomic program the process is said to be completed in a half a year period that the agreement covers in response four point two billion dollars of iranian assets will be on frozen discuss this let's cross live to patrick henningsen who's a geo political analyst at her thank you very much for being with us as always let's get right to it will this deal be permanent. this is an interesting deal because it's coinciding with two internal conflicts the one is obviously within iran you have some conflicts as to the nature of this deal and united states using its weight to lean on iran and as a sovereign nation the other side you have a huge fight going on with and united states were by the know not just republicans
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but some democrats and republicans want to basically torpedo this deal and not see it succeed so there's incredible amount of pressure on both sides but when you talk about especially let's focus on the iran pressure first of all they have massive changes underway will they be able to pull it off in this time frame. well i don't think it's that difficult just a case of lowering the bar the threshold for enriching uranium i mean or twenty percent it's already well below what would take for weapons grade so i mean a five percent uranium enrichment ceiling is more than adequate in terms of any fears about iran's ambitions a legit ambitions anyway to pursue nuclear weapons program so it can be done but the problem is political has a lot of political pressure within iran and also states for you know whether to comply with the u.s. and the u.s. whether to stick it to iran and impose news new rounds of sanctions against them
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one that sticking it to iran president obama has said that the u.s. will continue to vigorously enforce broader sanctions should iran not follow its obligations what does it say about washington stance well one has to ask the question fundamentally why is there sanctions on iran in the first place that's a good question and the answer is that obviously is the billions upon billions in frozen assets in accounts around the world and there are some people who would like to get their hands on that money as you know it's not going to sit frozen forever if there was a war with iran which some people would be advocate. namely israel. might be freed up to go into their hands and if. for instance. only deals with these problems but the main situation here is that the timing of this you can't ignore the two thousand and sixteen run up to the elections in two thousand and sixteen
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this is going to be dragged out in such a fashion six months twelve months it will become a major major sort pivotal issue in the united states so the israeli lobby is already putting heavy pressure. on congress. in america. back a new round of sanctions and to not see this deal go through so incredible to two to scale and briefly president obama has said he will veto any bill that imposes new sanctions in fighting there what will happen in iran how will they react if new sanctions are imposed. well. the fact of the matter is the reason there's this to taunt with there's two we've got two factions we've got the militant pro-war israeli factional one side that could never have peace with iran no matter what and then you have the fact that the world the west and the world needs iran they need to liquidity from petrochemical exports they need trade there's
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a stack of global stagnation economically right now and opening up i ran into the world trading theater is going to do a lot to increase trade and obviously move money around the world and goods and services back and forth at a time when it's much needed so there's two two camps here battling it out one to keep iran closed and other camps who would like to see iran open for trade and i personally thoughts on the subject patrick henningsen geo political analyst thanks for being with us on our team here. now there is a natural resource more precious than oil and it is so scarce in certain areas of the middle east that it could spark major conflicts later in the program we look into how a lack of water could become a tipping point in a number of already volatile region. especially what you're arguing for is that currents should put that african
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identity and bob for that national identity let me ask you a personal question i have a current first or an iraq and first i am a car first then i'm iraqi i'm not iraqi that i'm a cards because let me ask you that question i am from holland i have been bombarded you know i still remember the smell of the chemical weapons so what iraqi identity brawl between iraq and it brought to me the killing soft people grace four thousand five hundred villages were destroyed. do we speak your language or not at the. news programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news a little tonnage of angola's stories. so you hear.
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the spanish find out more visit. and welcome back you're watching our team now tens of thousands of police officers are carefully monitoring access to olympic venues and transport hubs that is what security is like in sochi right now as it prepares to host russia's first ever winter games in three and a half weeks time. toward the resort city to see what else is being done to protect athletes and spectators. twenty second olympic winter games in two thousand and fourteen i wore that to defeat the sochi i as soon as russia's black sea resort was awarded the game seven years ago i. question the choice of host city such as close proximity to the volatile caucasus region was they argued a cause for concern. and the recent twin terror attacks in volgograd
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seven hundred kilometers from sochi every ignited some of those worries organizers say security has been their main priority to this day one from the very beginning of the construction phase the state that. made those with months to prepare the special measures to stop them from the screen in the materials or checking in all the venue. incredible measures of the security to provide this safe environment here with less than a month to go now until the games begin tight security measures are already in place around forty thousand police and security offices are expected to be on patrol all sales of dangerous hunting equipment find for the duration of the games there's also a controlled stretching sixty kilometers along the coast and twenty five kilometers
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inland and encompassing all venues. in terms of security so it is a special case because this area is it is only there are security details from a number of countries including the u.k. and u.s. working. on those security forces will be coming together to protect places like this is the brand new purpose built train station in the olympic village is going to be one of the main transport hubs during the games moving thousands of spectators with the bulk of the work now complete with all venues and transport networks built and tested so she. just waiting for the sporting world to descend. the u.k. is battling a new wave of floods the extrusion weather has turned some areas into islands food alert flooded excuse me flood alerts are in place across the nation on the in motion section of our website we've got all of the footage and all of the latest
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details. plus metros around the world saw scores of people in their underwear taking part in no pants subway ride today the annual event began twelve years ago in new york has spread globally dot com for the full story and photos. oil and gas conflicts will be superseded by water wars in the near future that is the warning from experts as the world's population grows access to clean water resources is rising in price now take a look at this map and you can see the blue dots are places where conflicts over water disputes have actually broken down since the one nine hundred fifty s. these include small protests as well as more serious large scale clashes there have been one hundred seventy eight disputes and the number of hotspots is rising in particular the struggle for water in the middle east is a key issue in some ongoing conflict areas artie's post reports. the
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bible tells us that within a short distance from here jesus turned water into wine two thousand years later the great american might be turning the wine back into water bubby carballo has been living in the golan heights for over thirty years each day he attends to his many arden orchards keeping his wine in a center that was once a syrian bunker he is proud of the wine he produces but knows that in the absence of water none of this would be possible i don't know usually water is a more than usual it's the second main resource that we have other than the one who . needs water and without it you will destroy all the crops and destroy all the farming here you can turn the gone right into a disaster and it's not just about the golan heights rainwater from its catchment feeds into the river jordan providing a food of israel's water supply the disputed region was seized from syria after the
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six day war and residents of the golan remember that water was a key issue in the conflict and one of the stands here understands the importance of the work that all the water supply of israel because every door was very mean here. it's grown to the security of the fold we can say it is there must. respect the river for all over what the fox says it's a worldwide rule that whoever controls the water controls the land but the problem is in some places there's very little water to go around for you have the common waterfalls shared by several foreign nations is always the possibility of a clash of religious conflicts that should be manageable was put out of control and examples of possible conflicts are plentiful syria's major water sources travel through turkey and iraq making it vulnerable while jordan is reliant on
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a river with syria bill today egypt. recently expressed concern of a countries using the up and now to generate electric power in the dry landscape of the middle east is a prize more precious than diamonds in its absence famine and drought a quick to follow but this is a region that's very sound and needs an excuse for war and water shortages might just tip the balance. in the golan heights. in senegal port authorities in dakar have a promise to provide food and water and medical treatment to the crew of a russian fishing vessel they were caught up in a weeklong diplomatic spat over the seizure of the trawler the ship is with eighty two crewmembers on board was taken by force after being accused of trolling in senegal's coastal waters but with no official explanation from the car moscow has called it an act of piracy greenpeace stepped in and sided with senegal provoking
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russia to accuse the african countries government of acting on a tip off from the environmental group for now russian diplomats are undertaking steps to assist the vessel with its earliest liberation and departure but a senegalese official has demanded that russia pay a fine for the release of the vessel. so take a look at some other world news making headlines this hour police in egypt have fired tear gas at supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsy during clashes at cairo's main universities one thousand protesters have been detained in the several injured the fresh outbreak of violence comes just two days before a planned vote on a draft constitution. and least twenty one people have been killed and forty five others injured in a bomb blast in the iraqi capital baghdad and the worst explosion took place at a popular bus station killing at least nine violence has been on the rise in iraq in recent months reaching levels not seen since two thousand and eight. and worlds
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apart with us on a boy the is coming up. next after a short break. because he doubted states is the big dog the only hyper power and the cultural driving force of globalization it takes a lot of flak i mean hey globalization means the whole world gets hollywood and hot dogs and not the other way around so let's take a break from the negativity and talk about something truly amazing about america and as a guy who lives in moscow i could say that the constitution of the united states is something truly amazing in russia there is constant talk about needing a new national idea a new ideology or political theory or big changes to the russian constitution and so on and it's hard for people in america understand this but twice in the twentieth century the system that russians gave their lives for collapsed and the
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current constitution was written quickly after a period of violence and said collapse not after a glorious victory now you see why people here aren't exactly memorizing amendments and founding fathers quotes here in america there are debates between liberals and conservatives but almost everyone believes the constitution and it is america's greatest strength there is a national idea that is a sacred document with a list of rules as almost universally agreed upon everyone with half a brain on the street but sadly not in congress knows when something is against the constitution or should i say against america near universal belief in the constitution is actually something truly exceptional about america but that's just my opinion.
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hello and welcome to all that part one of the law just ask me groups with the. this state kurds have long been both the victims and the active participants of large geopolitical ventures and as the middle east goes through one of the biggest upheavals in its recent history can the current turn this power struggle into a benefit for that cause while to discuss that i'm now joined by him in high ranking member of the democratic party thank you very much for your time sir i know that kurdish clore has very rich tradition and one of the one of the characters fear most often encounter and kurdish tales are songs is that one of the forks and it's interesting that that animal is often praised for its truth and cunning as but also you know he stand and see of overplaying his smarts lance human rather precarious situation sometimes and i think this is very characteristic of kurdish approach to politics in general but it doesn't seem to further your own
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cause that much i wonder why is that in your view first the kurdish questions in the middle east has been the victim of the lack of democracy lack of peaceful coexistence lack of the non acceptance of the others on the rise of the others if you could because the kurds in the middle east were not arabs we are not turks we are not our cities we are a different national group and we have no rights in that area so as i said we are the largest nation in the world without a state and we are realistic we have been divided into four countries with the acceptance of the asking so for people and now we understand the realities of poor countries and each part of kurdistan within the countries that we are living in its own peculiarities so we don't want to copy paste what we have in iraqi kurdistan to the other part we do believe that this is the time for accepting the kurds as they are to live in a demographic situation that they can have a guarantee of their constitutional rights in their own country absolutely and i think this.

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